Breaking Down
by soda-me
Summary: A post-Eclipse, Breaking Dawn setting story. Wedding plans, the strain of her relationship with Jacob, and an unsettling note from Edward start to weigh on Bella.


Bella,

**Disclaimer: Everything Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. **

Bella,

Didn't want to wake you, you looked too peaceful. I've left on a sudden hunting trip with Emmett, Carlisle and Esme. I'll be back by Sunday afternoon. Alice will pick you up soon—she knows when you'll wake up, after all. Don't worry about me. I love you. Edward

I slammed the note down onto my desk. Who was Edward kidding, _don't worry about me? _All I thought about was him, especially when he left me, even though I knew there was little in the world that could bring harm to him, especially now that…

But it was still hard to think about, how close she had come to destroying both of us. If it hadn't been for the werewolves, we all wouldn't be here today, I was sickeningly sure of that. She'd done her job well, after all, planned it meticulously. And she'd nearly escaped again, evaded us with that curious instinct she possessed…or had possessed, at least. I wondered for a moment about her fate after Edward had destroyed her, then banished the thought quickly. Edward still held that his kind had no souls, and while I could believe that of her easily enough, I could never imagine a heaven without Edward.

I paced my small bedroom anxiously, trying to make sense of the short note. What did it mean? It was so unlike Edward to take off without giving me any advance warning, in fact, if my memory was correct, he'd never done that, not even when he left seemingly for good. I shuddered. Another memory I tried to suppress, though my best efforts often failed me. So what was he doing, sneaking off in the middle of the night? He would certainly have some explaining to do when he got home on Sunday.

"Hey, Bella. I love the new hairstyle," a high-pitched, soprano voice interrupted my alternating angry, worried and confused thoughts. My hand jumped to my tousled bedhead automatically, although I couldn't care less about my appearance at that moment. One look at her did send a faint blush to my cheeks, though, as she was the flawless pixie she always was. My morning look was embarrassing next to her perfection. Alice grinned at my embarrassment. "Relax, you're only human," she reminded me.

"Not for long," I returned, wiggling my left hand at her. She beamed.

"I'm so excited!" she exclaimed, leaning closer to examine the ring that sparkled there, although she'd already studied it a million times before.

"Excited that I'll finally be a bloodthirsty vampire like the rest of you?" I asked innocently. She threw me a dirty look before crossing the room and rummaging through the contents of my wardrobe. "For the wedding," she corrected. "It's going to be the event of Forks' existence. Just a few details left to sort out, then we'll be done."

"A few details like what?" I asked as she wrinkled her nose at a few of my shirts, and tut-tutted at the sorry state of my formal wear. She shrugged, and danced back over to me.

"Like where I'm going to position the champagne fountain, or what time to start the fireworks display. Last-minute stuff," she assured me. "I'll have it all planned in time."

My jaw had already dropped. "Alice! I warned you about going overboard, didn't I?"

Her lips pushed out in a pout. "Oh, come on, Bella. I just want it to be an event everyone will remember. Do you really just want a boring old, _normal _ceremony and reception?"

I couldn't keep back my smile. "Alice, I highly doubt anything to do with this wedding will be normal." Against my will, my stomach growled.

"Aha! Hungry, aren't you?" she loved to do human things with me. To her, watching me eat breakfast was entertainment. And she chose outfits for me and styled my hair like I was her walking, talking, life-size doll.

"Not really," I fibbed, although suddenly the dinner I'd had seemed like days ago.

"Please, Bella," Alice scoffed. "That stomach of yours sounded like an earthquake to me." She dragged me down the stairs, and forced me into a chair. Charlie had left for the station hours ago, besides that he still could hardly bear to look at the ring on my hand. Alice prepared a bowl of cereal for me with relish, humming as she poured the milk. Only Alice could find a bowl of cereal interesting. She watched me carefully as I ate.

"You know, I think I'd look to cook sometimes," she remarked. "If anyone in my family could eat it," she added with a scowl. "My talents are so wasted," she complained.

I grinned. "Well, you can cook for me, for a few weeks, until I'm no longer interested in pizza and cereal anymore. Knock yourself out."

"Pizza and cereal?" she pronounced the words with distaste. "If this is my only chance, I'm not going to waste it on fast food, Bella. While you're staying with us, you'll be treated to my finest cuisine." I nearly choked on my mouthful of cereal. "Oh, didn't Edward mention that in the note? He said I could take you captive again." I was the one scowling now. "Not like the first time," she assured me. "This is my own kidnapping scheme. We need to talk wedding details. After all, he convinced me that you ought to have a bit of say in your own ceremony."

But my mind had snapped back to the main issue. "Speaking of my dearest…fiancé," I said, the word burning my tongue while Alice glowed to hear it. "What is going on?"

Her golden eyes widened innocently. "Nothing. He's just hunting, didn't he say so? He'll be back Sunday at…" she thought for a moment. "Half past four. Emmett, Esme and Carlisle went too. Emmett's been bored, you know, since we had the fight." I wondered at the odd grouping. Edward often went with Emmett, and I assumed Carlisle and Esme liked to hunt together (although it made me wince to think of kind, loving Esme hunting wild predators—disregarding the fact that she was one herself), but it seemed odd that Rosalie didn't go along with Emmett, especially since I was going to stay at the Cullen home, at least according to Alice. Rosalie and I understood each other better now, but she still avoided me. And so did Jasper, who was also remaining home.

"Why didn't the others go?" I asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Edward asked me to stay back. He's so protective, if I were you I'd find it quite stifling. Although, I do have Jasper to contend with, so I suppose we're both in the same boat, so to speak. And since Jasper was considering cheating back at the fight, Edward's being a little hard on him. Unnecessary, since I obviously would warn him if there was any danger, but he made me stay home and miss all the fun," Alice said with a sigh. But she perked up almost immediately. "That's all right. We're going to have fun here, planning your big day! Do you want to go over right away?" she asked eagerly. Since I had nothing better to do, I agreed. She'd broken the rules and driven over in her Porsche 911 Turbo, and I found myself enjoying the ride back to the Cullen mansion despite the alarming speeds she loved to reach. She turned the radio up loud and sang along in perfect harmony, eliminating both conversation and my protests as the speedometer climbed ever higher. Finally, we reached their beautiful home and I followed her into the house.

"Alice, is that you?" Rosalie's lovely voice floated down from upstairs. She appeared at the top of the staircase, and her eyes were briefly taken aback as she saw me. "Oh…hello, Bella," she said, her voice even. Clearly, she was trying to make an effort to be courteous.

"Hi, Rosalie," I replied, trying to keep mine as steady as hers. Her lips turned up slightly, in a cautious half-smile. I smiled back, to show that I was also willing to be friendly.

"Hey, Rose," Alice piped up. "Do you want to be part of wedding planning committee?"

"Oh," Rosalie said, obviously surprised to be invited. "I thought…you and Esme were doing that together." I felt suddenly ashamed at not thinking to include her sooner. I'd assumed she was just as adamantly opposed to the entire wedding as she was to the idea of me becoming one of them.

"Well, Esme's away, remember?" Alice said, just a bit too meaningfully for a normal reminder. Besides, why would Rosalie have forgotten something like that?

"Of course," Rosalie confirmed. "That's not what I meant, Alice. I'd be glad to help…that is, if Bella will allow me to," she said, sounding unsure of herself, as she sometimes did around me.

"If you can stand Alice's ridiculous enthusiasm for the whole thing, you're welcome to join us," I said quickly, not wanting to alienate her further. Alice stuck her tongue out at me, and she swept me up the stairs and down the hall, Rosalie trailing behind somewhat reluctantly, as usual. She still had an aversion to me that I simply could not change.

Jasper stuck his head out of his room as we passed. "Hello, Bella. Alice roped you into her plans, did she?" he asked teasingly, as Alice marched past him determinedly.

"'Fraid so," I agreed. "How'd you manage to get out of it?" I felt unusually at ease around Jasper. His curious talent had to be at work. Clearly, he wanted me to feel comfortable with him. Maybe he was worried that without Edward around, I would be more afraid.

"Ha! I didn't give him any options," Alice informed me. She turned sparkling eyes on Jasper, who grinned with amusement. "No boys allowed," she stated.

"Such a loss," he said, shaking his head in mock-disappointment. "Well, good luck with that one, Bella." He disappeared back into his room, and Alice hauled me down the hall into her room, where Rosalie was already waiting, standing near Alice's enormous closet.

Alice folded herself into a complicated yoga position on the floor, looking extremely comfortable in an arrangement that made me wince in pain to see. I settled for dropping onto the floor next to her, and Rosalie drifted over and sat cross-legged a good distance from me. Alice clapped her hands, the noise was deafening. "Okay, let's get down to business," she commanded. "Bella's dress is taken care of, naturally. Edward can fend for himself, Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper. As long as they all match, I'll be satisfied." She turned to me, and smiled. "Don't worry, Bella, I've strictly warned Jasper that if he and Emmett try to pull anything funny, they'll have to answer to you."

I looked at her dubiously. "What a threat," I said sarcastically. Rosalie chuckled.

"It will be soon," Alice reminded me. Rosalie's face tightened, her eyes grew cold. Alice either didn't notice or ignored her sister's reaction. "Anyway, he'll listen to me. Like I said, don't worry. Everything turns out just fine. Except…ugh, Rosalie, could you try to talk Emmett out of his plan?" she complained, and Rosalie managed a smile again.

"What? What's Emmett going to do?" I demanded, but Alice refused to tell me.

"I'll step in if he takes it too far," she promised. It was maddening already, trying to live with her. Before I could protest further, she'd moved on. "What we have to decide—I can't believe I let this go ignored for so long!—is who will your bridesmaids be? I know I'm the maid of honour—actually, I know who the bridesmaids are too, of course, but Edward thought I should at least pretend to let you decide for yourself, as though there wasn't already a set outcome. So, who will it be?" she asked, a gleam in her golden eye. How frustrating, that she already knew the answer, yet she insisted on putting me through the turmoil of trying to decide.

I hesitated. "Alice, couldn't you just tell me?" I asked. She looked shocked.

"That would be like me dictating to you. It wouldn't even be your choice then!" she exclaimed, sounding horrified at the prospect. Apparently, as long as I chose my own bridesmaids, everything else was fair game for her.

"Well, I guess I'll have Angela," I mumbled, and Alice nodded encouragingly. "Okay, Angela then, and Esme if she likes, and…" Alice looked at me significantly. Apparently, I was missing someone. I glanced at Rosalie; she was looking away, intent on avoiding eye contact. "Rosalie? Would you…consider being a bridesmaid? I'd hate to leave out any of Edward's family. You all mean so much to him."

Rosalie seemed to think this over, but Alice was eager to move on. "She'll do it—at least for now. Now, what do you think about wedding cakes?"

…

**Author's Note: I hope to continue this, if I get some good feedback on it. This was my first attempt at a Twilight fic, and hopefully it turned out okay. **


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